Tuesday, July 25, 2017

As part of the Intel Innovator program, we are graded on our involvement with the community, our contributions as innovators, creators and developers. We get to work on a lot of different projects around the world, and I’m honored to be part of this amazing family! Thank you Intel for the recognition of my time and work!

Friday, July 14, 2017

Well, the lovely engineers at Puget Systems finished building (thanks Houston) and testing (Lorin) my new VR Audio Workstation. It was built live on Twitch to 115k viewers and was a blast chatting and talking with so many people during the build! Here's the specs and details about the system that I will be developing some virtual reality projects with! Special thanks to Eric, Jon, Kelly, Houston, Justin, Lorin and Kari at Puget for the team work that went into this beautiful machine! I'm even getting a hard case for it for travel!

"Hello Justin, Congratulations on the purchase of your new custom computer from Puget Systems! We take great pride in our work, and we know that you are eagerly awaiting the arrival of your computer. Now that your assembly is complete, we have taken a few photos of your system and we would like to share them with you. These pictures are taken as a last step, so your wait is nearly over!"

"As part of our advanced testing, we use thermal imaging. This process gives us crucial information about your computer's temperatures and helps us to improve the reliability of your computer by optimizing how heat is dissipated. The image on the left shows your computer at idle temperatures. The image on the right shows your computer at full load temperatures."

Thursday, July 13, 2017

With special thanks to Puget Systems, Nvidia and Intel for supporting this awesome build event! Houston over at Puget Systems built it live to an audience around the world. I answered questions in chat for 4 hours as well as did a voice interview with Houston during the stream on Twitch and Discord!

Here I am live in stream with Houston over at Puget Systems!

It was educational and cool to see a professional workstation class system being built before my eyes!

The chat room and stream!

Some NVidia 1080TI goodness!

Thank you Intel and NVidia for tweeting about the event! Also shoutout to Jerry from Barancules for also streaming it!

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Personal computing is radically evolving to become capable of experiences hardly believable today, and virtual reality’s (VR) highly sensory and immersive nature is central to that evolution. In continuation of Intel’s leadership in creating amazing VR experiences, the company collaborated with Sony Pictures* Virtual Reality to create a virtual reality experience (VRE) that complements Columbia Pictures upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” the most highly anticipated movie of the summer, arriving in theaters July 7. The VRE offers users the chance to suit up as Spider-Man, hone their web-shooting skills, and sling high above New York City in pursuit of the Vulture.

The developers used a variety of Intel-optimized software, including Adobe*, Allegorithmic*, Autodesk*, Epic Games*, Mettle*, Pixlogic* and The Foundry* for authoring, digital sculpting, rendering and production, to deliver amazing performance and realism in the VR experience.

“This collaboration is a first for Intel and Sony Pictures Virtual Reality, starting a new era in Intel/Hollywood VR production partnerships using premium cinema content,” said Doug Fisher, senior vice president and general manager of the Intel Software and Services Group. “Together with our silicon, the pervasive power of the Intel software ecosystem offers VR content and game developers the opportunity to create fully immersive experiences that bring the next evolution of compute to mainstream audiences. We are excited to be a part of this blockbuster partnership.”

Friday, June 16, 2017

Sony Pictures Virtual Reality announced a new VR experience for Columbia Pictures’ upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming” flick Friday that will let players experience how it feels like to be Spidey.

They’ll be able to do some target practice with Spider-Man’s new web shooters, and sling themselves through the air to face off against Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis, The Vulture.

The experience will be available for free across all major VR platforms, including PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on June 30, a week before the movie is scheduled to hit theaters. Here’s a first trailer released by Sony Friday.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

I was interviewed and profiled by Intel for their Developer website on the various types of work that I do, please feel free to read and check it out! Thank you Elizabeth!

“Intel® Software Innovator Justin Lassen, is well versed in all aspects of the creative arts, and his blend of classical technique and modern methodology has defined his success in all manner of genres. Justin is an enthusiastic, networking genius who loves all things tech and tells us a bit more about himself below.”

Tell us about your background.

At heart I am an artist. Whether that means visual or audio, I’ve done everything from filmmaking, videography, acting, performance to programming to music composition. What got me into music is that I was always interested in theatre and choir, so growing up those were always my favorite classes. Singing every morning to start my day was the best feeling in the world. Choir and just being around grand pianos were the catalyst for my interest in music composition and theory. I always listened to so many genres of music as case studies, always wondering how they came up with those sounds, those progressions and those ideas.

I was fascinated with Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) technology and how different musical devices, synthesizers communicate with each other. Sampling audio and field recording became an obsession. I wanted to make all kinds of art and music growing up, I started in pop/punk bands, rock/industrial bands, classical composition and string arrangements as well as remixing indie artists and major label artists. I had a lot of amazing mentors over the years that helped introduce me to all the right people in all the right places. It was Robert Miles and Peter Gabriel who initially set me on my path, and I’ll never forget them.

What got you started in technology?

I’ve been into technology since a young age. I started as a programmer as a kid. I got my first corporate sponsorship from Microsoft at the age of 12. I started programming on Apple* IIe and Atari* 800 XL computers. So I’ve seen the industry grow from the early beginning stages to the monster that it is today. I can remember when we got our first Intel’s® 80286 (286) computer; it was a glorious day. As Intel released newer processors and generations of technology we kept up to date (386, 486, Pentium®, Pentium® II, Pentium® III). It was a blur just how fast Intel was quickening technology in those days.

I first started coding in Qbasic, BasicXL, C++, Visual Basic and Visual C++. In high school, Microsoft continued to see potential in me and every time a new version of their programming software was released they would drop a copy of it off at my high school. I was always tinkering with code, hardware and software. I got into web programming since the NCSA Mosaic* browser and kept my skills up to date, until my late teen years when I fell in love with music, another form of programming and language.

Developer Spotlight

Justin Lassen spoke at the Intel® Juice Bar and also presented Shapesong at this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC). He explains that the audio for virtual reality (VR) experiences, especially the consideration of the spatial design, is vital to creating a truly immersive VR experience.

Justin Lassen & Moheeb Zara mentored students about pitching and pitch methods for their ideas and projects to inspire them at the Intel sponsored EmergenTech: Hack ASU. Justin also met up with local innovators and IoT developers at Southwest Maker Fest 2017 and at the Spark Festival of Creativity.

Justin Lassen

Composer. Remixer. Sound Designer. Visionary. With 15 years of experience in the music, film, and video game industries, Justin Lassen is well versed in all aspects of the creative arts, and his blend of classical technique and modern methodology has defined his success in all manner of genres. His wildly popular instrumental series, Synaesthesia, has been highly praised by everyone from CGSociety to EQ and Playboy Magazines. Likewise, his dark, symphonic masterpiece, And Now We See But Through A Glass Darkly, has seen over 100 million downloads since its release in 2003. As a remixer, Mr. Lassen has worked with artists like Madonna, Garbage, The Killers, Lady Gaga, Lenny Kravitz, Robert Miles, Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Apocalyptica and more, and has leant his production talents to high profile technology firms like iZotope, Cakewalk, Intel, Sony, Konami, Interplay and Department of Defense.